Vision - January/February 2008 - (Page 37) “Ultimately, if we can get broadband into homes, it’s great for the consumer electronics industry,” he says. “It puts more energy into the eco-system by placing more devices into homes.” Biswas’ entrepreneurial approach to bringing technology innovation to emerging global markets typifies the growing focus on the 80 percent of the world’s population that has not yet been deeply connected to digital technology. From industry giants such as Motorola, Intel and AMD to young companies such as Meraki (www.Meraki. com) and Voxiva Inc., there is accelerating support for the opportunities in distant venues. A variety of goals are fueling these initiatives, ranging from development of new business markets to the social imperatives of health, education and economic benefits to communities. There’s a large dollop of philanthropy in some projects, but experts agree that the greatest value comes from creating viable new markets—rather than from charitable handouts. Eric Nonacs, managing director global affairs at Endeavour Financial, a Vancouver merchant bank specializing in natural resources, also embraces the “eco-system” concept. He emphasizes the need to integrate technology and applications and also to plan an entire infrastructure to support sustained use of technology. This full-scale approach requires everything from training local installation personnel to assuring that there is sufficient electricity or other power sources to operate equipment continuously. “There has to be a profit motive involved,” says Nonacs, who is also a senior advisor to the William J. Clinton Foundation. “At the end of the day, you have to build a business to make it sustainable and to enable it to expand.” Expressing similar sentiments about the value of an eco-system in developing markets is Dan Shine, president of the 50x15 Foundation, and director of the 50x15 Initiative at Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (www.50x15.com) “You get a different reaction when you say, ‘We’re here to help develop new businesses with you’ than when you just give away devices,” Shine explains. AMD set up the 50x15 project in 2004, with a long-term goal of bringing Internet access to half of the world by 2015, hence “50 percent by ’15.” Dan Shine with community members at the Tegla Laroupe Peace Academy in Kenya where AMD plans to deploy a 50x15 Learning Lab. org), a non-profit social enterprise whose mission is to put Information and Communications Technology (ICT) tools into the hands of organizations and people who support remote and rural communities in the developing world. Shine cites projects in which 50x15 and its partner companies have deployed devices in Uganda for education, which led to a wider involvement by the government to supply computers to local government and education agencies. Similarly, in Tanzania, the government identified a need to put 120 laptops in schools spread across hundreds of kilometers. The computers and support system provided by a consortium of global and local groups are used not for classroom education, but rather to help school administrators share best practices and resolve other infrastructure challenges. Fast Deployment One advantage for emerging countries of being “late arrivals” at the technology explosion is that they are obtaining the newest versions of established technology. Most analysts agree that unloading outdated, used devices is not an effective way to introduce technology into developing markets. Hence, many of the state-of-art installations are supporting advanced services that not only appeal to new customers, but also offer cost-savings. Paul Meyer, president and founder of Voxiva Inc. (www.voxiva. net), a Washington, DC-based health care and services provider, cites data from the GSM Association showing that there are two billion mobile phones in the developing world, with a million more wireless devices being added every day. In Africa, more than 70 percent of the population lives in areas served by wireless signals, and by 2010, the signals will cover 90 percent of the population— although not everyone will have a mobile handset. “You go to a little village in Rwanda and there’s a cell tower on a hill,” Meyer reflects with a bit of awe. Such widespread deployment is solving “the biggest challenge: connectivity,” he adds. Voxiva is working with entrepreneurs and government agencies in Rwanda, Kenya and Nigeria as well as in India, Indonesia, Peru, Argentina, Columbia and Mexico to deploy mobile technology for health monitoring and reporting and other services. “Our solutions are designed to use whatever technology is available,” he says, noting that “the phone is the most ubiquitous piece of technology in the developing world.” Almost universally, companies that are pursuing opportunities in emerging markets in Africa, South America, South Asia and other under-developed parts of the planet focus on the value created by bringing electronics, information technology and communications services to untapped markets. “For many years, these parts of the world have been totally neglected by capitalism,” says Shawn G. DuBravac, CEA’s economist January/February 2008 Beyond the Obvious Value The special demands of working in communities with limited resources have encouraged companies to explore innovative solutions—some which may work their way back into richer markets. The One Laptop per Child (OLPC) project with its goal of a $100, solar-powered computer for use in remote communities has been widely described in the past year as it moves toward rollout. But other breakthroughs have emerged from alternative projects. “It’s a matter of getting the right combination of devices and technologies,” says AMD’s Shine, citing the need for creative problem solving in regions where little infrastructure exists. He points to a 50x15 project that enabled ten PCs to operate in a cluster that worked with less than 20 watts of power—a smaller energy source than usually needed for a single computer. The set-up required no fans and used a single power cord for both the PC and display device, thus further cutting power consumption. AMD worked on this PC project with Inveneo Inc. (www.inveneo. www.ce.org 37 http://www.meraki.com http://www.inveneo.org http://www.meraki.com http://www.50x15.com http://www.inveneo.org http://www.ce.org
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